Atlanta Flames
ice hockey team
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with the New York Islanders, the Flames were created in 1971 as part of the NHL's conflict with the rival World Hockey Association (WHA).
The team enjoyed modest success on the ice, qualifying for the playoffs in six of its eight seasons, but failed to win a playoff series and won only two post-season games total. The franchise was eventually sold after the 1979–80 season and relocated to Calgary, Alberta after owner and real estate developer Tom Cousins suffered massive financial losses due to the struggling 1970s economy.
Eric Vail was the Flames' top goal scorer with 174 while Tom Lysiak led with 431 points. Guy Chouinard was the lone player to score 50 goals in one season. Goaltender Dan Bouchard led the team in wins (166) and shutouts (20). Two Flames players won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie: Vail in 1974–75 and Willi Plett in 1975–76. Bob MacMillan won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the most gentlemanly player in 1978–79.
The public source identifies “Atlanta Flames” as ice hockey team. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Atlanta, Flames and hockey.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q756173. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 1980, 1971 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “Atlanta Flames” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.